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Protesters shout at a lone man with shaved head and Swasikas on his shirt in the protest zone of the Richard Spencer event, in front of the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Juelius Long, Gainesville resident, talks with a man who entered the protest zone with two Swastikas on his shirt, as he is escorted by protesters off University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Tatonya Speed from Columbus, Ohio, and Cyntay Matthews from Burlington, New Jersey, protest in front of the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus where the Richard Spencer event was held on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. “It’s 2017, these types of issues should not still exist,” Speed said, “Racism should be a part of the DSM-IV, making it a mental health issue. If someone thinks they’re better than other people, that’s an illness.” Matthews’s said, “Five generations honorably served, protected foreign and domestic from terrorism.” (Photo by Rachel Jones)

A woman holds sign that reads “UF faculty against hate” at the Richard Spencer event at the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Protester shouts in front Richard Spencer event at the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Last semester, I started researching surveillance in Gainesville with a few other students for an applied fact finding class. Charlene Hewitt and I decided to keep digging, and our combined efforts were published in the cover story for the latest issue of the Fine Print.

Issues are available on the University of Florida campus, or various locations around town.

Today concludes Justice Week in Gainesville, Fla. It was five days of events to increase awareness about human trafficking — both domestic and international.

I attended the “Human Trafficking Symposium: The Price of Sex” in the Rion Ballroom on UF campus on Thursday. Frank Williams, Sherry Kitchens, William Crews, and Mac Heavener spoke about the realities of human trafficking right here in Gainesville.

When people think of human trafficking, they think of “Taken.” Many don’t even acknowledge that it’s happening right in here in our little town.

U.S. Attorney Frank Williams called Gainesville out. It’s happening here, he said, because there’s a DEMAND for it here. (A DEMAND for SEX with YOUNG GIRLS.)

In case you aren’t well-versed in human trafficking, it is essentially this: A human being selling another human being.

He said runaways often get swept up by a pimp within 48 hours of leaving home. If the pimp has other girls or women, he might threaten to beat one of them if she doesn’t do as he says. He explicitly used the words “malled or killed.”

They especially focused on men paying to have sex with young girls. Recently, a UF student was caught in a sex sting for trying to meet with a 14-year-old girl.

There are perpetrators in the audience, he said, “You need to get help.”
There are victims in the audience, he said, “You need to get help.”

Gainesville is right off I-75, and surrounded by agriculture. These could also factor in to the amount of human trafficking here.

Children don’t know the dangers of the world. But maybe they should. Maybe they shouldn’t be sheltered from the realities of the world and instead learn them and prepare for them.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac Heavener spoke of the high rate of human trafficking in Jacksonville, Fla. He said some illegal immigrants will be brought here with promises of a waitress job and instead are manipulated into thinking they have all this debt to pay and only one way to do it. They are scared of authorities, of course, and don’t have anywhere to turn.

In one example Heavener gave, a woman had sex with 15 men a night for $20 each. A customer ended up calling because he felt bad for her.

Sherry Kitchens, who works with victims here in Gainesville, tried to explain why the victims don’t “just leave.” Aside from the threats, there’s a lot of manipulation involved. Girls have often run away from their families and now their pimp has created a sort of family-replacement. He’ll provide the food, shelter, everything they need and make them feel like they really can’t get on without him. Often, they’ve been so worn down that they feel worth nothing — he’s the only one who will see any value in them anymore.

Frank Williams even called out the porn industry. He said it objectifies women and it literally CHANGES THE WAY YOU PERCEIVE PEOPLE. Pornography has human consequences. He said, STOP. Stop watching porn. It’s disgusting. It creates a demand. It puts a price on sex.

A girl from the audience walked up to the podium. She wasn’t a scheduled event. Her name was Kelsey, and she felt she should share her story. She was abused for five years from when she was 7 to 12. She said no matter how much therapy she could go to or help she could get, there was nothing that could fill that hole. There was no day that she didn’t think about it. That’s why, she said, the focus needs to be prevention. So this doesn’t happen to more children.

I started my first five-hour shift in Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM newsroom today as web producer in the Integrated News Facility at the University of Florida. This directly followed my editing lecture, so I skipped out on lunch to get to work.

I read the follow sheet as I awaited an assignment. This just in! The Florida Supreme Court rules to uphold a law which…just kidding, you’ll have to read the article linked above to get the full story.

So I had some vague details, a four graf article handed to me a little after 1 p.m. to get some hint at what was going on. I brainstormed with fellow INFers on whom I should contact as sources.

I called the Florida Education Association first, and was put in touch with spokesperson Mark Pudlow, who told me to call back a bit later, which was great ’cause that gave me time to actually figure out the recording studio.

I recorded my interview with him, and then called Janine Sikes to get UF’s take on the deal.

I talked with her, and then looked for a teacher to contact locally. I ended up with Karen McCann, president of Alachua County Education Association. I talked with her the longest, she was very passionate about the subject and wanted to make it clear what she thought and why, which made my job easier.

I left a message for the United Faculty of Florida, but didn’t hear back so I started. I emailed myself the recorded audio and began to form my story. Deadline of 6 p.m. was approaching, and my head was starting to feel the hunger. I had a meeting with the Fine Print in an hour, and still had to bike home and eat something. I didn’t want to let all this work go wasted, though.

So I closed up my laptop and took it home with me. Went to the meeting, returned home, pieced the rest of the story together, emailed Ethan that the draft was up, and viola! Now I can eat something.

Well, almost…the audio I recorded from the interviews may be used on the radio in the morning. How cool! I had such a productive day going from class, to the newsroom, to the Fine Print meeting, to finishing up a story. And then, to see it published on the WUFT website was quite refreshing and warmed me with such a sense of accomplishment that I almost forgot how tired and hungry I am.

If you haven’t already reposted the status update attempting to regain control of everything you’ve ever shared on Facebook – don’t. It won’t work. Accepting the terms of service upon signing up for the social networking site cannot be undone.

The status updates claim users’ copyright over the contents they’ve shared on Facebook and requires written consent from the individual user before Facebook can use the material. It has been copied and pasted so many times it’s like a newsfeed chain letter. But it is false.

The status update cites international law – the Berne Convention, though misspelled as ‘Berner,’ – and Uniform Commercial Code as protections against violating user’s privacy. But Clay Calvert, a University of Florida journalism professor and director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, and who holds a both a law degree and a doctorate in communication, said it’s not a matter of either of those, it’s a matter of contract law.

“This is much more of a symbolic protest than one that has any legal effect, despite what people would like to believe or think they know,” Calvert said.

When setting up an account with Facebook, soon-to-be users must accept the terms of service. If they actually read them, they’d know that Facebook has the right to use the information shared on the site. Facebook claims a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license” to use any intellectual property content when the user chooses certain settings.

This doesn’t mean Facebook “owns” what’s shared – but it can disclose the information, which may include users’ GPS locations, to advertisers to more effectively direct ads their way. Information associated with an account may be kept even after it is deleted.

The Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities “is our terms of service that governs our relationship with users.” A status update cannot trump the terms of service that each user agreed to when signing up for site, Calvert said. It was a choice to sign up and it is a choice to continue to use Facebook – but only under their terms.

It’s like leasing a car, Calvert said, you can’t negotiate the terms by putting a sticker on it claiming your rights after you’ve signed the contract. You’re bound to that lease.

“The big picture is that Facebook users did not realize that they were giving away their rights,” Calvert said.

Now that they’re realizing this they’re trying to get them back. But the sheer number of people who repost that status doesn’t make it enforceable. Facebook also maintains the right to update their terms of service, and to continue using Facebook is to accept the changes, according to Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. But who actually reads the terms of service?

“I know that I don’t read them, ever,” said Moriah Geier, an 18-year-old UF dance freshman, not only referring to Facebook’s terms, but iTunes and any other terms

and conditions one has to accept by ‘clicking the box’ on the internet. She reads them more on paper. She saw her friends posting the copied status, but didn’t believe her rights could be changed by a status update.

This wave of statuses followed a revision this month to the data use policy, which includes the information Facebook collects and how it may use that data. A similar message spread earlier this year following Facebook becoming a publicly traded company, but that has nothing to do with users’ privacy. Facebook can change the terms if notice is provided, which is done by posting the change on the Facebook Site Governance Page, and providing an opportunity to comment.

Adjusting your privacy and application settings controls how some content and information is shared, but some information like your name, profile picture and networks will always be public.